Travel Insurance Reviews for Generali Global Assistance

When my husband's wallet was stolen in Paris I called the insurance company number to see if they could offer any help and was to receive a claim report via email which was never received. There wasn't much help they could actually provide other than offering to loan some cash, which we didn't need.

At first I thought it was a misunderstanding that would be remedied once we discussed the matter. My wife and I planned to take family members on a trip to France. We undertook to pay for lodging and train travel in Europe. They would only have to pay for air fare and incidentals. And for one cousin who is celebrating a significant birthday this year, we went a step farther and undertook to pay her air fare from SFO to Paris. Knowing how much we were likely to spend for all of this we insured the trip for $9,500.

Shortly before the trip my wife was injured and hospitalized. The trip was cancelled and we filed a claim for trip cancellation coverage. Generali reimbursed us for all of the payments we made that were non-refundable (including payments for train tickets for our party of six, multiple hotel rooms for all of us, and a house rental in Brittany). But it declined to compensate us for the air fare we paid for my cousin because, they said, she wasn't an insured party.

I communicated with Generali and explained what I believe is self-evident. The risk I insured against was the risk of losing up to $9,500 is payments I made for my trip and Generali's policy provided that "Benefits will be paid, up to the amount in the Schedule, for...Payments that you paid for your Trip." I wasn't claiming benefits for my cousin. She didn't make any payments for air fare and had no risk of losing any such payments so even if she had been insured she would not have been able to claim benefits for lost air travel payments. I was claiming the benefit for my wife and me since we were the ones who paid the $1,800 in air fare, faced the risk of loss of that payment if the trip was cancelled, and were the parties Generali agreed to insure against that very risk.

After failing to get anywhere by communicating with Generali in writing, I was finally able to speak with a Claims Manager by phone. I explained my logic and she agreed, my reasoning was sound! Nevertheless, she insisted "that's not how the policy works" and refused to consider the matter further. She asserted that Generali only pays benefits for reservations that are in the name of an insured, even if an insured party paid for the reservation. (As for the benefit for payments I made for train tickets for six passengers, that was "a mistake" she said.)

I'm now persuaded that this is not a simple misunderstanding but a deliberate policy or practice that amounts to an intentional breach of contract by Generali. I intend to pursue the matter further and am confident I will eventually succeed in getting Generali to live up to its commitment. However, others should be very cautious about dealing with Generali.

We sailed trans Atlantic with the plan to get off the ship in Le Havre, France and proceed to Paris. Due to weather, the ship diverted to Southampton, England. The ship transported us to London, Heathrow, but we were on our own from there. We had already purchased train tickets from Le Havre to Paris. We notifies Generali of the situation and filed a claim upon return to US. Generali Global reimbursed us for our travel from Heathrow to our Paris hotel. Our entire claim was reimbursed 100% including a charge I had to visit the ship's doctor while on board. I have since purchased additional Generali policies for our next trip. Our claims agent Ricardo Romero did a great job. I have purchased several Generali and GSA policies over the years, but this was the first claim I had to make and so glad we purchased insurance. Don't leave home without it.

I recently returned from overseas where I had a ski accident and emergency surgery/hospitalization. We reached out to our travel insurer Generali which ultimately worked out but not without some stress along the way. It took a very long time to work out the travel arrangements home, where we needed to be upgraded to business class so I could travel the 8 1/2 hours home more comfortably. We were traveling with a family of 4 and needed to retain our existing flights from the same airport or something comparable so we could travel home together. I'll spare the details here but there were bumps along the road getting this taken care of effectively. The associate we worked was very responsive and as helpful as he could be but it appeared that the back office with whom he had to deal was less than efficient in taking care of the details, or didn't understand what was required. Happy to share details if customer service wants to call me.

Once arriving to our home airport there was supposed to be a medical transport vehicle meeting us so again I could travel to my residence in a manner where I could extend my leg which was in a brace and recently operated on., It took a long time to find our driver at the airport and once we did he did not arrive with a suitable means of transportation. The car awaiting us was a Cadillac Escalade which had bucket seats throughout and had a step required to get into the car. I had to be lifted by my family and the driver to even get into the car and the ride home was excruciating. I could not extend my leg comfortably and traveled the two hours to our apartment in extreme pain. Granted it was rush hour so the ride was longer than usual, but the driver took a very long and arduous route that could have been avoided.

Once home the claims were filed and everything was taken care of quickly and efficiently. I have no issue with the claims process, but the service while away and upon arriving home left something to be desired.

This was my first time buying trip insurance. On the way to the airport, our flight was canceled and our nine day trip would have been delayed by two days. First we panicked, then I remembered I bought trip insurance. We called CSA and they explained to my husband that we could rebook flights and gave us the amount they would reimburse us. We did buy new tickets and arrived at our final destination only 5 hours later. Our family vacation was back on track. It did take 6 weeks to get the claim approved and paid but it was an easy process. Very happy.

Nice-Madrid-Miami
Iberia had system down to connect with Madrid in Nice to print the 2nd. boarding pass so we had to request 2nd. boarding pass at connection in Madrid.
When we arrived in Madrid we tried to find Iberia desk but we didn't make on time because was far apart from the gate so we lost our flight to Miami. We had to overnight in Madrid in order to take next day flight. CSA said this is not covered our dinner and hotel for that night that we requested.

Being stranded in Paris when my airline ticket was rejected, CSA was the only help I could get. The customer service rep (Lisa) calmed my anxiety, put me in contact with the proper person I needed to issue a new ticket, the following day, set me up with a claim form for a hotel and meal, then called my wife to reassure her. I am very grateful.

If you are considering this company, make sure you fully understand their definition of 'pre-existing conditions'. This company has a 180 look-back history. I didn't know what that meant until I had to file a claim and was denied. Here's what look-back means: any condition evaluated or treated 180 days PRIOR to purchase. "Underlying conditions" is also part of this definition. I lost a lot of $$$ not fully understanding the definitions. Next time I have to buy travel insurance, I will DEFINITELY go to great lengths to understand every aspect of the policy.

We had the unfortunate experience of a travel delay due to an air traffic controller's strike. CSA covered ALL expenses associated with the delay including the missed portion of the tour. We will definitely buy trip insurance again from CSA!

Submitted a claim for dental extraction due to molar fracture (less than $100), was processed immediately, and received check very fast. During the emergency, we called and spoke to the rep few times, and also via email. Very efficient and extremely helpful. We will definitely buy this insurance again, but the only problem with medical care claim if you have own insurance, you have to claim thru that first. Quite a hassle, so even we have another medical claim (small amount), we decided not to be troubled with submission.